[Nexii]

Episode 18: The Ninth Circle, Part I

Nexii rematerialized on the edge of a frozen lake far under the Temple of Treachery. The Cocytus, once a crystal clear river, had become cold and hardened from powerful GM magic. It was rumoured that the developers themselves had a hand in construction this place, a prison for the most wretched of souls.

"Welcome little cleric...to true Hell..." a distant draconic voice rang in her mind.

"It's...so...fucking...cold..." Nexii whispered to herself. She thought she knew cold from Velious. But this place was far worse than any she'd visited. Far colder. To breathe in the air it pained her elven lungs; she could only gasp in and out. She wanted to cry upon not seeing a zone out pad. Why hadn't she listened to Sirken? And why didn't he follow her? Perhaps he knew how extremely foolish she had been. "Just a stupid girl...fucking around and...hedonistic..." She staggered, and fell to her knees. Everything hurt and yet...she still felt the Hate in her despite being so far from home. Innoruuk's divine powers hadn't given up on her just yet.

"No...I won't go down alone like this! I'll find the way out." She got herself back up with renewed determination. It was difficult to walk with the ground being sleek ice. This place was eerily silent aside from that telepathic voice. But she knew that they were out there. With trembling fingers she got out her Pegasus cloak to levitate above the slippery surface.

"Surrender...as those here have. You know their crime. That which is worse than giving your soul to another?" The voice rang in her mind once more. She shook it off. She didn't want to think about anything but escaping...but yet...the message left her curious. She made her way around a massive stalagmite of ice, to see the first soul of the Ninth Circle.

"Aftermath sucks. So many players yet so incompetent as a whole. Finally a Massive Heartwood Thorn and I can't..." Jumbasa looked up at her with frozen, soulless eyes. As if he knew her but was so consumed that he couldn't say her name. There was no warm shoulder massage as a greeting this time. He was fixated on pulling the immersed dagger out of the ice, but it was a futile quest. The Tunare dagger was stuck in deep and it wasn't going to come out any time soon.

"What? Spent all your Retoxx bucks too soon?" Nexii said, coughing from the cold as soon as she'd taunted him. She knew it was bad karma to do so. There was a force, one beyond GMs and players that even she didn't comprehend. "I...I'm sorry. I can release you from this, if you wish." She raised her flail at his affirmative nod, but stopped short. "No...I just can't do it." With a defeated sigh, she continued on.

"Perhaps I underestimated you. Is that pity for the Immersed I saw?" The voice derided her decision.

"Fuck...off..." she cursed, using the Tier`Dal words which came more naturally. "I'll...what is that?"

A icy evil eye was floating by. It was hovering and moving very slowly, as if it was focused on some performing some tasks.

"Eye of Sedyt....scanning. Scanning Neriak Library. Scanning Cecily post #4209. Scanning Cecily post #4210. Updating Aftermath DKP. Scanning Nexii post #249... post #250. Anomaly...detected..."

"Shit. He's gonna find something. Find me soon like Floppin. I need to just...look away. Never look directly...don't reply..." The frozen aura of the eye was mesmerising, but she had to resist. With a surge of adrenaline she dashed to an alcove at the side of the lake. Here there were two souls, half-frozen into the ice. One was a Half-elf, the other a Troll.

"Hraasshna...will...pop...someday. The voice tells me so..." The Half-elf Nexii recognized as Detoxx. He was in a bad state, unaware that Nexii had even sauntered up next to him. It seemed he was fantasizing about having his very own Sceptres of Destruction, swinging each in turn with what little energy he could muster against the cold. Looking to the Troll, Nexii saw Uyan.

"No...Ventani! My alt DPS monk will have that Shroud... AM is the most dominant guild... we'll crush them..." Uyan murmured. Nexii waved her hand in front of his eyes, but it had no effect. All he saw was that Shroud, in his monk's inventory slot. Nexii felt like telling both the war was long over. The war that she'd never partaken in, perhaps it hadn't meant to be by that greater force...

"Yes, little cleric. Don't say you haven't ever felt that lure... the lure of best in slot pixels. Come my child, and gaze upon my true form." Nexii was snapped out of it by the voice. It seemed closer now, more intense. Or perhaps her resolve was weakening. She'd seen so many she knew succumb to their very own desires, to end up with infinite self-loathing and rage. It was the opposite of all she had been trained. She had been trained only to Hate others and never herself.

"Fine...as you say." She whispered, continuing along the river. She could sense the direction now. And then she saw it - the entity which was the Avatar of Immersion. It was a three-headed undead Vulak`Aerr, chewing on the half-ice-immersed bodies of the three most tortured souls known to the server. The left head was chomping on Unicity, the effigy of autism. Not a single joke would be absorbed by this one. The right head, Floppin, the effigy of elitism. No action performed would be good enough for this one. And the center head chomped on Bellringer. The effigy of hypocrasy. No amount of mercy was lost on this one, as Tempest had so quickly gone back to their old ways of extortion and hard play.

"Ugh...gross." She could see a pile of blood around where the three were being chewed. And yet...they were seemingly oblivious to the pain at the moment.

"FTE...FTE...FTE..." The trio chanted in unison.

"POP!" The voice echoed, even Nexii felt the desire to bolt just on hearing it, despite being way too uninterested to ever race before. But she wondered, how would they race when frozen in place?

Her question was soon answered as they each stroked their cocks furiously. At first she thought it was some ritual to get back body warmth, but then it dawned on her. Only after Floppin, Bellringer, then Unicity came in turn did she figure it out.

"First to Ejaculate. Cute." Nexii sputtered. The cum mixed in with the blood and guts, giving a rather grotesque scene. No doubt this sick race would be done in perpetuity, a hearkening back to the days before earthquakes.

She looked up at the damned trio, seeing each smile. The thought that each enjoyed the race, the visions of DKP earned for responding, was more twisted than she could process.

"No...enough...I give in..." She begged, falling down to her knees, whimpering in a pathetic way that she'd only ever made Sirken do. The cold lure of immersion had claimed her, she could see her eyes were just like theirs in the icy reflection of the lake.

"It's...all...over..."